Apparatus for cleaning large articles



June 1954 w. A. MARSHALL EI'AL ,681,

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING LARGE ARTICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 27, 1953 jawentors:

June 15, 1954 w A, MARSHALL ET AL 2,681,069

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING LARGE ARTICLES 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 Filed May 27, 1953 450M m M Patented June 15, 1954 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING LARGE ARTICLES William A. Marshall, Walnut Creek, and William R. Probert, Concord, Calif., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Application May 27, 1953, Serial No. 357,784

2 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to cleaning apparatus and more particularly to a movable spray apparatus especially suitable for cleaning large articles such as rolling mill roll assemblies and the like.

It is an object of our invention to provide a cleaning hood having a liquid spray system integral therewith.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a cleaning hood having a liquid spray system integral therewith which is flexibly connected with a source of pressure cleaning liquid so that the hood may be selectively positioned over articles located on a drain floor or base.

The nature of th invention and its distinguishing features and advantages will be fully apparent from the following detailed disclosure and the appended claims when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a top plan view;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, taken on the line IIII of Figure 1 and Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line IIL-III of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 2 indicates a drain floor provided with a pair of inclined drain troughs 4 extending thereacross. The drain floor 2 is bounded on four sides by angle beams 6 so as to form a four sided base. The spray hood of our invention, which is indicated generally by the reference numeral 8, is made in the form of an open bottom cover having side walls It and end walls l2, each made up of metal sheeting reenforced with angle beams I l. The top It of the hood is provided with a lifting bracket I8, welded or otherwise attached thereto, which may be engaged by a lift hook of a crane, not shown, to move the hood.

A spray system which may be made up of two longitudinal spray pipes 26 extending along each side of the top of the hood, and two transvers pipes 22 which connect the ends of the longitudinal pipes 20 adjacent the ends 12 of the hood, as best shown in Figures 1 and 3, is provided within the hood 8. Cleaning liquid under pressure is supplied to one of the transverse pipes 22 by means of a vertical riser pipe 24. The bottom of the vertical riser 24 is attached to a flexible hose 26 which in turn is connected with a discharge pipe 28 of a conventional motor driven pump 30. The pump 30 is attached to and pumps liquid from a subsurface receiving tank 32 which is located adjacent the drain floor 2.

We have found it convenient to provide a storage tank 34 connected with the pump 30 and the receiving tank 32, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, to permit the contents of the tank 32 to be pumped into the storage tank 34 at periodic ntervals so that the sludge may be cleaned out of the tank 32, This arrangement is conventional and is not claimed as part of our invention. The troughs 4 are inclined so as to empty into the receiving tank 32.

In operation the article W, which we have shown as a roll assembly, which is to be cleaned s positioned on th drain floor 2 over one of the troughs 4. The hood 3 is then lowered over the article W so that it is enclosed thereby. After the hood has been lowered into position, the pumping mechanism is started and the cleaning liquid is forced to the spray system in the hood 8 through the flexible hose 26 and the riser pipe 26 from where it is sprayed onto the article W through holes or nozzles in the spray pipes 20 and 22 which direct jets of the cleaning liquid at an angle of i5 degrees onto the article W.

While the article W is being cleaned by the apparatus of our invention, another article W may be positioned on the base 2 over the other drain channel. After the article W has been cleaned, the pumping mechanism is stopped and the hood removed from the article W and placed over the article W, as shown by broken lines in Figure 3. With this arrangement, no time is lost loading and unloading the spray base between cleaning operations, During the cleaning of the article W, the article W is removed and another article deposited in its place so that the process may continue substantially without interruption.

For purposes of demonstration, we have shown a drain floor provided with two drain channels 4 and with an area large enough to accommodate the hood 3 in two cleaning positions, however, it will be noted that any number of drain chan nels may be provided and the size of the drain floor may be varied to any size convenient in accordance with the size and the number of articles to be cleaned. If desired, the bounded drain floor may include only an area which will be covered by the spray hood in one position. With this arrangement, the spray hood is removed each time an article is loaded or unloaded from the drain floor.

While one embodiment of our invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim: 7

1. Apparatus for cleaning large articles comprising a floor having a drain channel extending thereacross, a cover in the form of an open-bottomed box having two side walls and two end walls removably disposed on said floor over said channel, a spray system disposed in the top of said cover, said spray system including a longitudinal spray pipe mounted adjacent the upper portion of each of the two side walls of said cover and a transverse spray pipe mounted between and connected with said longitudinal spray pipes at the ends thereof adjacent the upper portion of each end of said cover, a vertical riser pip on one end of said cover, said riser pipe being connected at its upper end to one of said transverse pipes, a flexible hose connected to the lower end of said riser pipe, and means for supplying cleaning fluid under pressure to said spray system connected with said flexible hose.

2. Apparatus for cleaning large articles as defined by claim 1 characterized by said floor having at least two spaced drain channels extending thereacross, and said cover being removably disposed over one of said drain channels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,419,397 Frohofi et a1 Apr. 22, 1947 2,536,843 Dye Jan. 2, 1951 

